From early childhood, we all heard stories about how highly intelligent ants are.
Together with our parents, we admired their performance, “carrying capacity”, and excellent ability to organize their colonies. Having matured and becoming the owners of our own garden plot, we suddenly came across completely unexpected information. Indeed, ants are very numerous and beautifully organized. A colony living in an anthill on the territory of a garden plot can number up to 10 million individuals. And this means that the trunks of all trees and shrubs can be covered with these insects.
The colony needs to be fed, so the ants breed their own "pets" - aphids. The tops of plants and young shoots usually serve as pasture for it.
Often aphids completely destroy plants. Only garden ants remain indifferent to their death. Fighting them becomes a necessity and a matter of honor for every gardener.
How to lime ants in their area? There are many ways, but all of them can be divided into technical and chemical. Perhaps you win, and not garden ants, in the battle for the harvest: fighting them requires skill, patience and systematicity. So let's get started!
Chemical-free garden ants fighting
You can try to destroy the anthill without resorting to industrial chemicals:
- Daily (or at least several times a week) pour boiling water over it. A targeted and systematic fight against garden ants with boiling water can make surviving insects look for a new place of residence.
- Cover the anthill with hot ash, bleach, cinnamon, salt, dust.
- The folk method recommends watering the anthill and its passages with a composition prepared from a bucket of water, half a bottle of shampoo, two glasses of vegetable oil. This mixture needs to be poured into the anthill, having previously opened it.
- The terrain and the house itself, in which insects live, can be covered with carbide or sprinkled with diesel fuel.
- Ants should not be allowed into the trees, because plants can die from such contact. Therefore, in order to prevent these insects from colonizing tree trunks, a water barrier can be built near each of them. To do this, the old ramp from the car is cut lengthwise and surround it with the trunk, having previously sealed the joint. Pour water. Such a barrier will not allow pests to a bush or tree.
- Fighting garden ants may require the construction of a “skirt” for the tree. Make it simple. Part of the trunk is wrapped in hard foil, leaving a sharp “skirt”. Ants do not differ in flexibility, therefore they will not fall on a tree.
All these methods of extermination of insects act gradually. For faster (and more successful) disposal, experienced gardeners recommend the use of toxic agents sold in specialty stores.
Chemical Ant Fighting Garden Ants
One of the most harmless products released to kill ants is the Aeroxon adhesive belt. It is impregnated with a special, very sticky glue. With this belt, trunks and branches are wrapped from the ground itself per meter in height. Insects will not be able to overcome the barrier, but simply stick to it. You can use the following gels: “Clean House” (it helps in the garden), “Fufanon”, “Absolute”. Adhesives are also issued with the same names, but they are more suitable for processing an apartment. There are also drugs "Anteater", "Summer resident" and "Muratsid", which also effectively expel ant colonies.